Alpine settlements break brains because they are photogenic on purpose. Wood balconies repeat. Steep roofs repeat. Then you notice the village grocery, the school path, the way snow is stacked that differs by country maintenance budgets and municipal personality.
Resort time versus resident time
Resort strips can look internationally interchangeable, same rental-shop fonts, same luxury wood stain. Shift your attention to road signs, tunnel mouths, rail infrastructure, and the language on hazard plates. Those boring objects carry passports.
Elevation changes light
Thin air light can look crisp in a way coastal players misread as ‘filter.’ Combine elevation hints with tree line behavior. If you are wrong, you learn altitude intuition, which pays off later in Andean clips too.